


A Very Small Issue

by Hawkgal13



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Caring Sam, De-Aged Dean Winchester, Gen, Kid Dean Winchester, Kid Fic, Protective Castiel, Protective Sam Winchester
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-31
Updated: 2016-03-09
Packaged: 2018-03-04 14:00:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3070775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hawkgal13/pseuds/Hawkgal13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Dean is transformed into a 4 year old by a witch Sam, Bobby and Castiel must protect him from demons, angels, monsters and plain old humans. They must also team up with unlikely allies in order to change him back. T for language although not that bad. Set in season 5.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Sam wasn't sure what he had been expecting when he arrived at Bobby's after speeding down the highway at a constant speed of 80 miles per hour for the past 40 minutes to discover what the 'small issue' Bobby had texted him about was. It seemed over excessive for a small issue, it would have been for a small issue, but a 'small issue' never meant a small issue; no, a 'small issue' meant a frigging huge problem that's way out of control. Sam had imagined scenarios of Bobby's house being overrun by demons, a fire blazing within the junkyard, the possibility of either his brother or Bobby being severely injured snuck into Sam's imagination before he quickly disbanded the notion, attempting to forget that he had ever thought of it.

Sam pulled up outside of the house, practically leaping out of the car and sprinting towards the front door, eager to discover what was the 'small issue' Bobby had phoned about, the 'small issue' Sam had dropped everything to provide assistance in, the 'small issue' which Sam had broken several laws for in order to get to Bobby's house in the time he had. After rapping at the door with all his might, he was faced with Bobby, a finger to his lips, whispering in the quietest voice Sam had ever heard from the man in the entire time he had known him. "Shut up, you damn idjit." Bobby turned and walked back into the house without greeting Sam or explaining what the 'small issue' was. Sam followed him into the house almost reluctantly, shutting the door silently behind him. For such a 'small issue' Bobby seemed fairly collected.

"Bobby, what's going on? What's the 'small issue'?" Sam whispered in an equally quiet voice to the one Bobby had used, slightly confused by the need for such hushed voices and quiet movements. It wasn't until they were standing in the kitchen that Bobby had truly acknowledged Sam, handing him a beer from the fridge he cleared his throat, preparing to say something although only silence followed his preparation. Bobby was unable to explain, finding it difficult to maintain eye contact for long periods of time. Suddenly something in Sam's head clicked as he looked around the kitchen. Something was missing, someone was missing.

"Bobby, where's Dean?" Sam asked suspiciously as the older hunter swallowed a large gulp of beer, trying to avoid answering for as long as possible.

"Well, we were checking out the old factory where Harold Gunn had worked before he was killed. It was a basic job; that was until that witch we thought we ganked on Tuesday turned up. She was really pissed after our last encounter and, well, she did something to Dean." Bobby said, eyes still not meeting Sam's.

"What?! What did she do? I'm going to-" Sam's voice began to rise, fuelled by anger at the thought of his brother being injured.

"shhh," Bobby interrupted Sam's vow of vegence, signalling for Sam to be quiet with hands as he looked over his shoulder into the living room. "Dean's fine. He's just, you know, different is all." His brow furrowed under the pressure of trying to explain the confusing and slightly unbelievable situation to Sam.

"What do you mean 'different'?" Sam asked, eyes narrowing in curiosity, his hand subconsciously fumbling with the beer cap that was determined not to be detached.

Bobby sighed, "It's hard to explain." With one final cautionary glance over his shoulder, he eventually settled on a solution. "Come on, it's best if I just show you." He started towards the living room, pausing just in front of the doorway, turning to warn Sam. "Just don't freak out, okay? It took me nearly an hour to calm him down before and he wouldn't stop crying." Sam began to worry. Dean had been crying? Things must be 's hushed voice sounded slightly irritated and tired; it was only at that moment that Sam noticed the dark circles around Bobby's eyes, making them look hollow and dark. "And try not to make too much noise, you'll wake him up and then we'll never get him back to sleep." He chugged the rest of his beer before placing the empty bottle on the table. Sam nodded, slightly confused by Bobby's requests.

Nonetheless, Sam obliged to them as he followed Bobby into the dimly lit living room. Bobby stood still in front of the couch, arms crossed as he stared down at the pile of blankets sprawled across the couch. Sam squinted, encouraging his eyes to become accustomed to the new lighting. After a minute or two Sam began to notice the steady rise and fall of the blankets and the soft sounds of breathing. Staring more closely at the blankets he spots a small arm protruding from them, dangling over the edge of the couch, too small to reach the ground. Messy tufts of sandy blonde hair stuck out the top of the blankets that covered the remainder of the tiny figure, no more than fragments of a freckled covered face could be seen.

Sam spoke in such a quiet voice he was barely heard by the older hunter. "Bobby, why do you have a kid asleep on your couch?" Sam suspected what the answer would be, the freckles and the hair were big hints, but he hoped that Bobby would disprove his suspicions.

Bobby rubbed his forehead, struggling to remove his eyes from the boy on the couch. "Because that's not a kid, technically, it's Dean." His voice was somehow even quitter than Sam's, if their voices became any quieter only bats will be able to hear them.

Sam stared from Bobby's sincere expression to the small boy on the couch. How was this kid Dean? His brother was a fully grown, somewhat immature, adult. Looking at Bobby sceptically, Sam protested. "But this kid looks about four years old. I didn't even know a witch could do something like this." Had walked back into the kitchen, he was nervous about waking the small child since he was slowly losing control of the volume of his voice, he was also beginning to feel uncomfortable around the younger version of his older brother.

"Well, neither did I; but I'm not that surprised. Remember that witch that was making people younger and turned me and Dean into old men? They must've found a way to gain control over age." Bobby closed the kitchen door as he said this, cautious of waking Dean.

"But why? Why would a witch want to turn Dean into a four year old? What would she gain from it?" Sam stumbled over his words, still half convinced this wasn't happening.

"Revenge, I guess." Bobby said with a shrug. "Do you not remember what happened the last time we saw her? Dean shot her, twice." Sam sighed at the recollection of his brother's actions. "What more of an excuse do you want?" Bobby opened the fridge once again to pull out two more beers now that Sam had drunk his previous bottle in one fluent gulp.

Sam accepted the beer but didn't open it, just held it in his hands and stared into the dimly lit living room with a blank expression.

"Why not just kill him then? I don't understand why she would do this when she could've killed him, that's what most people do for revenge." Sam suspected that there was a larger plan which involved dean being so young, that was the only thing that seemed logical.

"Maybe she thinks it's funny. Just be thankful she didn't do something worse, at least this way dean's safe and we can try to keep it that way." Sam remained apprehensive, if this witch was plotting something that included a child version of dean it was most likely something horrific, possibly worse than death.

"Is there any way to cure him? To turn him back to his older self?" Sam didn't look at Bobby when he asked this, just continued to stare blankly into the living room, silently praying that the answer would be yes; Sam could bare to think what he would do if the answer was no.

"I'm not sure yet. There's not much about age regression in any of the books I have, it's not a very common occurrence; but I'll go to the library tomorrow, see if I can't find any information about it there." Bobby's eyes were also fixed on the living room as he explained his strategy to discover a cure for Dean to Sam. Bobby also wondered what the future would hold if he couldn't find a way to turn Dean back to his usual self.

Sam nodded slowly, processing everything that had happened in the past 20 minutes. "So, what do we do in the meantime?" after a questioning look from Bobby, Sam decided to elaborate his query. "I mean he's what, 4 years old?"

Bobby nodded, looking solemnly at the bundle of blankets through the glass panels of the kitchen door. "I think so. I didn't really know you two or your father when he was that age," he gestured towards the sleeping figure that was Dean. "But I don't remember him looking that young when we did meet for the first time. He was 6 then, so, yeah, I reckon he's about 4." Sam concentrated, trying to recall what Dean had looked like at the age of 4; of course Sam didn't know first-hand, he would have only been a couple months old at the time, but he tried to picture the photographs of his brother he had seen in his head. Bobby must have read his mind as all of a sudden he voiced Sam's idea. "I have a box full of things from your old house that your dad kept here, things from when you were younger. I think it's somewhere upstairs, maybe out back. It's got old photographs in it; I think most of them have dates on them. We could try to find one of Dean, the way he looks at the moment, and find the date on it; that could help us tell what age he is."

Sam was slightly overwhelmed by his new found discovery, he hadn't realised Bobby was so sentimental, nor his dad.

"Have you tried asking him his age? It would save a lot of time, and maths." Sam considered this a fairly obvious solution and was surprised he hadn't thought of it earlier.

"He doesn't know." Bobby said with a small shrug, "he's just as confused about this as we are, probably more."

"So he remembers everything?" Sam asked shocked and disturbed by the idea that a 4 year has memories of forties years spent in hell.

"Looks like it." Bobby said, his voice also sounded resentful towards the weight a now very young Dean was forced to bare. Sam shook his head sorrowfully, the weight Dean carried was more than any man should ever have to carry, never mind a small child. Sam was astonished that Dean was actually sleeping and not having a mental breakdown right now.

"So it's just Dean, in a child's body?" Sam asked, eyes squinting as he tried to catch another glimpse of his brother through the dark room. He thought that if he kept looking, confirming it was really happening, his mind would slowly come to terms with the strange situation.

Bobby put down his half empty beer and released a small sigh. "Not exactly. He remembers, but, eh, well he behaves, well," Bobby paused for a moment searching his vocabulary for the appropriate words, "he behaves like a kid."

"What do you mean 'like a kid'?" Sam asked, his eyes now firmly on Bobby.

"Well, he acts like a 4 year old would act; like when he first found out he was transformed, he cried for nearly 2 hours." Bobby shared a similar expression of worry that Sam wore. "Then he didn't talk for a while, clung to that blanket until he fell asleep." Sam nodded, he understood. Those actions did not sound like his brother, it sounded like the actions of a scared 4 year old.

After looking at the clock, Bobby drank the remainder of his beer before saying, "C'mon, it's pretty late and you look exhausted."

Sam shook his head in disagreement. "We need to-"

"There isn't much we can do now; it's too late to do anything that would help. I think it's time to hit the hay, we can try to fix this in the morning." Sam still didn't look convinced. "You have to sleep Sam; you can't survive on caffeine alone." Sam reluctantly nodded, placing his un-opened beer bottle on the table and grabbing his back-pack he had brought in from the car. Why hadn't he gone with Bobby and Dean instead of interviewing those useless witnesses about Gunn; he could have prevented all of this from happening. But, like Bobby said, there wasn't anything they could do at half one in the morning so he went upstairs, collapsing onto the bed only to lie awake, staring at the bedroom ceiling, for nearly an hour before falling into much needed sleep. One sentence repeated itself in his mind, tomorrow was not going to be fun.


	2. Breakfast and Baths

As he had predicted, Sam's day started badly. He was abruptly woken up at around 7 am by the faint sound of Bobby's gruff voice from downstairs, "What the hell happened in here?!"

Sam launched out of bed and ran down the stairs two at a time only to discover a kitchen covered in flour, cereal and what looked like orange juice. The site calmed Sam down somewhat; he had been expecting broken windows and demons, this seemed like paradise compared to the scenarios he had created in his head.

His relief was short lived when he heard a quiet whimpering and a whispered, "I was hungwy." He looked down to see a tiny figure decorated in the matching contents of the kitchen, his camouflage almost prevented Sam from noticing the small boy.

"So you decided to throw all the contents of my cupboards onto the floor?" Bobby's voice was rising, sounding intimidatingly angry, especially for a young child.

"I didn' do it on purpose. It was a acciden'." Dean's voice was beginning to crack, his grip on the small blanket in his arms tightened. Tears were beginning to run down his cheeks, creating streaked lines in the mask of flour. It was weird seeing Dean like this; seeing him so young and scared of being yelled at.

Bobby's expression softened as he crouched down in order to be eye level with Dean. "Hey, c'mon now, don't cry." His voice was soft and gentle.

"Are you mad at me?" Dean looked up at Bobby, his green eyes were larger than Sam had ever remembered them being, the fresh tears Dean was now rubbing at with the back of his tiny fists made them seem brighter than they already were.

"Of course not," Bobby said with a large smile, rubbing the boy's back attempting to revert his breathing back to its normal rate. "I just would have preferred it if you came to ask for help from me or Sam." Bobby's attempt to calm Dean down was in vain since his breath became rapid again and tears began to fall faster.

"But, I-I can do, eh, it on, m-my own." His words were punctuated with infrequent sobs and sniffles. "Like I-I did, whe-en I-I was, big."

Bobby continued to rub his back, pulling him into a hug after the massaging failed to console the crying boy. "I know you could, Dean, and maybe you still can. But things are different now, you're different; its okay to ask for help, you know?" Dean's whimpers evened out into deep breaths attempting to regain his composure; his grubby fists continued to rub at his eyes as he nodded his tiny head. "Okay, now I think we ought to get you cleaned up and into clothes that actually fit you. How does that sound?" It was only after Bobby said this did Sam realise Dean was draped in a large black t-shirt (although it looked white now because of the flour) that hung down past his feet. Sam recognised it as the t-shirt Dean had been wearing when Sam last saw his fully grown brother the day before. Dean didn't answer Bobby's question, he just nodded his head again, trying with all his might to hold back the tears that were threatening to begin falling again.

Bobby turned towards Sam who was leaning in the doorway, observing the strange and unfamiliar scene unfold before him. "Sam, I need to clean this mess up and find some clothes for Dean. Do you think you can give him a bath?" Dean also looked towards Sam, only noticing him now that Bobby had addressed him; he looked embarrassed by the notion of Sam bathing him, even if he was 4 years old. Sam nodded, also feeling rather embarrassed by the idea of bathing his older brother; but Sam obliged repositioning Dean who Bobby had handed over to him.

Carrying Dean, who was surprisingly light even for such a small child, Sam followed Bobby up the stairs. Bobby turned into a room Sam had only been in on a hand full of occasions and Sam went into the bathroom, turning on the tap for the bath and ensuring the water wasn't too hot or cold for Dean's young figure.

Dean was sat on the closed toilet seat, rubbing at the last remaining tears in the corners of his eyes, chewing the collar of the over-size t-shirt subconsciously while staring at different areas of the bathroom; he seemed so young and innocent. Sam didn't remember his brother ever being so small, Dean had always been the older brother and, for the majority of their childhood, bigger than Sam; always strong, brave and confident. Seeing him like this made Sam realise how small Dean had been at that age.

When the bath had enough water in it for Dean, which wasn't that much since he was so small, Dean heaved himself off of the toilet seat, reluctantly allowing Sam to remove the much too large t-shirt and lift him into the bath. While Sam washed Dean's hair, making sure he didn't get any shampoo in Dean's eyes, a little voice said in what Sam assumed was Dean's attempt of a threatening voice, "we aw newer speakin' abou' dis again." Sam stifled a laugh, hearing a 4 year old version of his brother threatening him was hilarious.

Sam wrapped a towel around Dean after lifting him from the mixture of clumped flour and cereal that now inhabited the bath. Sam towel dried the small boy before carrying him out of the room, grabbing the flour covered t-shirt off of the floor as he left. He followed the sound of Bobby's voice shouting, "I'm in here." 'Here' referring to the bedroom Sam had slept in last night, however now there was a large, brown cardboard box in the centre of the room, scrawled across the side in black marker pen was 'Dean's baby stuff'. Sam's heart flickered at the thought of Bobby storing meaningful possessions from their childhood. On the bed Sam had slept on, he saw that Bobby had laid out an outfit for Dean that consisted of a pair of jeans, some blue socks, underwear and a tiny long-sleeved grey t-shirt and on top of it, a green and white striped short-sleeved t-shirt with a picture of a cartoon dinosaur in the middle.

Bobby had his head almost inside the box, pulling out objects and organising them into two piles, one was considerably larger than the other. Dean stared at the smaller pile, eyes wide and fixed on a tatty, chocolate brown teddy bear that was on top of the pile. He wriggled in Sam's grip, "Sammy, pu' me dow' now!" Dean demanded as he kicked furiously.

"You need to get dressed first, Dean." Sam said, tightening his hold on his brother, desperately trying not to drop him.

"Fine, pu' me dow' an' I can do i' myself." Dean said with an extra hard kick to Sam's abdomen, making Sam wince at the pain.

Sam obliged and put Dean on the bed next to the neatly arranged clothes. "Don' watch me, perv!" Dean's high voice exclaimed as Sam sighed and turned away to assist Bobby in whatever he was doing; although there wasn't much help Sam could provide, so he stood watching the older man organise Dean's old belongings, arms folded as he concentrated on the process. He rubbed his abdomen, reducing the pain dean had caused. Sam was rapidly becoming annoyed by the younger form of his brother; were all toddlers like this or was it just Dean? Probably just Dean.

While observing Bobby Sam noticed patches of flour stained his shirt, obviously caused by cleaning up the mess Dean had created earlier. Sam felt even sorrier for Bobby than himself; Bobby shouldn't be burdened with a young child, even if it was Dean, especially if it was Dean. The poor man had already dealt with the two young Winchesters before, he didn't need a rehash of that.

After a couple of minutes and a range of frustrated sounds from Dean Sam decided to ask, "Are you okay Dean?" The sight Sam saw when he turned to face the bed had him clutching his ribs laughing. Dean was rolling on his back like a turtle, one leg in his jeans the other one kicking frantically at the air, his head was jammed into one of the arm holes of the long-sleeved t-shirt while both arms were hidden inside the t-shirt.

"I'm fine. Stop laughin'!" Dean's voice was muffled by the material of the t-shirt and lost in the motion of rolling. Sam's lungs almost burst trying not to laugh, but he suffered the pain as walked over to the bed to help his struggling brother. He moved Dean's other foot through the leg of his jeans; the waistband was elasticated so it was easy to get them on, Sam then rearranged the top so Dean's arms and head were in the correct openings; now the long-sleeved t-shirt was on properly, Sam placed the short-sleeved t-shirt on top. The tiny socks slipped on easily and looked really cute on Dean small feet. "There you go." Sam said a bit over enthusiastically.

Dean looked up at him, a look of pure disgust on his face. That look was quickly replaced by one of longing and desire when Dean's eyes fell upon the tattered teddy bear again. He hopped off the bed and ran towards the smaller pile of varied objects next to Bobby. He grabbed the teddy bear, wrapping his arms around it and hugging it tightly, uttering into its fur, "Zeppelin".

Bobby and Sam both smiled at this before Bobby dumped the larger pile back into the box. The smaller pile consisted of a couple of toys, a plain green t-shirt, a dark blue coat with red mittens attached to the sleeves by matching red string, a small light blue, woolly hat and a pair of tiny red high tops. All of these looked as worn as the teddy bear and the clothes Dean was wearing.

Bobby addressed Sam, although he continued to review the items the remaining pile consisted of, "This was all that was salvageable, the rest all looked too big for him or are beyond repair. You may need to pay a visit to the store for some more supplies. We're not sure how long Dean's going to be like this." He placed the objects he had now picked up onto the bed.

"I'm wight here, you know. I'm no' gonna be a stuck as a ki' fowever!" Dean moaned, pouting in frustration; he was becoming distressed and annoyed by the idea of being a child for any longer.

"I know Dean, but I haven't found anything about age regression in any my books yet and we haven't faced anything like this before. I promise you though, I will do everything in my power to turn you back; I'm going to the library today to try to find a way to fix this." Bobby said, rubbing Dean's arm in a soothing motion. Dean nodded, his arms tightening around the teddy that was in his arms; he nuzzled his head further into, using it as a tissue to dry his eyes and nose.

"Bu' findin' somethin' bou' age wegwe-we-we," Dean shook his head, abandoning his efforts at correctly pronouncing the word 'regression' "bu' tha' could take fowever," Dean whined, his voice was muffled once again by the material shoved in his mouth; this time it was the ear of Zeppelin.

"Well, you and I can go get some supplies while Bobby does research at the library; time will fly." Sam said while picking up the shoes, coat and hat off of the bed; replacing them with the flour covered t-shirt.

After Dean's disastrous attempt at preparing breakfast earlier that morning, there wasn't any food left in the house suitable for a growing boy, unless you count whiskey and beer as one of your 5-a-day; so Sam and Bobby had agreed get some breakfast at the diner Bobby regularly visited, causing a delighted Dean to jump on the bed in excitement.

Dean stopped bouncing long enough for Sam to put his shoes on for him, kicking Sam in the face and almost breaking his nose in the process. The shoes were a bit big for Dean since there was a substantial gap between the end of the shoe and Dean's toes, so Sam added new shoes to his mental shopping list, which was getting worryingly long. He then placed Dean's arms through the coat arms and zipped it up; the coat also looked too large for Dean and made him appear smaller than he already was. Sam struggled to get Dean's hands into the mittens since Dean refused, claiming mittens were 'babyish'.

"Dean, its December. If you don't wear gloves your fingers are going to freeze and you'll catch a cold." Sam pleaded with him, coaxing his fingers into the bright red mittens. Eventually, Dean submitted and his tiny fingers morphed together inside the material. Sam placed the fluffy blue hat on Dean's head covering tiny ears; Dean pushed it up since it covered half of his face and obstructed his vision. Some of his sandy blonde hair, which had now been dried by Sam, stuck out the front of the hat. Sam had to admit, Dean looked adorable, even with the frown he wore when Sam stated his observation.


	3. Chapter 3

The waitress at the diner appeared to agree with Sam as she couldn't stop cooing and awing at Dean from the moment they walked into the diner. She had recognised Sam as the FBI agent he'd claimed to be when he was investigating the zombie outbreak a couple months back; she didn't bother to ask why he was back though, or where his partner, who had flirted with her endlessly, had gone. Obviously she hadn't been as interested in Dean as he thought she was. She asked Bobby who "the cutie-pie" was since out of all the times Bobby had visited the diner he'd never a child with him. Bobby told her Dean was his nephew, he and Sam had decided this would be the story, that Dean's father was away working so Bobby had agreed to let Dean stay with him. Bobby explained the situation in a way that seemed like it was second nature to him; after all the times their father had simply dumped the two boys at Bobby's doorstep when a hunting job came up, Sam supposed it was probably an explanation Bobby had used a lot in the past.

The waitress nodded and bent down to get a better look at Dean, "Well aren't you the cutest little thing; I have a nephew who's just a little older than you. He's a little brat though, I'm sure you're not like that, are you?" She asked rhetorically, pinching Dean's cheek as he basked in the attention of such an attractive woman. She was fairly young; she mustn't have been more than 19 or 20. She wore the same apparel as the other two waitresses in the diner, both of them a lot older than her. All three wore a pale yellow dress with a frilly white apron tied around their waists; the girl's uniform was decorated with four badges bearing cartoon animals and a name tag with 'Emma' written in neat pink gel pen. Her curly blonde hair was tied up in a ponytail, only a strand fell astray; she had large blue eyes and a dazzling white smile. Dean shone a toothy grin, smitten with the compliments he was receiving. "So what's your name then cutie?" she asked, smiling down at Dean.

"Dean!" he exclaimed happily. Sam raised his eyebrows at the amount of enthusiasm Dean showed causing the young boy's cheeks to quickly turn red in embarrassment; an attempted serious and grown-up expression now occupying his face.

The waitress laughed at Dean's reaction, "That's a lovely name, Dean. I'm Emma. It's really nice to meet you." She accepted Dean's mitten covered handshake, giggling at the fact this mature gesture was coming from a 4 year old boy.

Emma stood up and lead them to a booth near one of the front windows, Dean clambered into one side of the booth and pressed his nose up against the window. As a 4 year old he seemed to be fascinated by the snow that had begun to fall (though, Sam figured this was normal for children that age and couldn't recall anyone who hadn't been excited by snow). Sam and Bobby climbed into the seats on the opposite side of the table, smiling at Dean's excitement. Dean peeled his face away from the window long enough to remove the mittens and hat he hated so much. Once they had settled into their seats, Emma provided the three of them with menus, two large adult menus and one smaller child menu with cartoon pictures on it for Dean.

"Pancakes!" Dean squealed happily when he saw the picture on the front of the menu; Emma giggled at Dean's enthusiasm for food. Sam smiled when he realised Dean's passion for food hasn't changed since he was 4. Dean's persistence for coffee was admirable, coming close to throwing his cutlery at Sam when he continued to deny his dose of much needed caffeine.

Finally Sam convinced him to choose a different beverage after a promise that he could get pie afterwards if he would comply; Emma noted Dean's new order of 'lot's of pancakes an' choclate milk' in her small notepad after confirming the renewed order was alright with Bobby (Sam suspected she would not bring the amount of pancakes Dean would be expecting though). She then wrote down Sam's and Bobby's orders, both with coffee much to Dean's annoyance.

While they waited for their food, Emma gave Dean a colouring book the diner had for younger costumers and a pack of crayons with a limited variety of colours. He began to solve the various puzzles and activities, missing out the word searches and cross words; he became irritated when Sam attempted to help him solve the puzzles he was struggling with and pulled the book away, covering it with his pint-sized arm. "I can do it myself, Sam! I don' need help!" Sam retreated, disbanding his efforts of helping his brother.

When their food arrived Dean's eyes widened at the sight of the short stack doused in maple syrup and a dollop of whipped cream. Bobby and Sam finished their breakfast, or lunch as it probably was at this time, and sat watching Dean devour his pancakes happily, sipping the blue straw of his chocolate milk, which was also topped with whipped cream, every once in a while.

The scene was interrupted by a familiar voice, "Bobby Singer, what are you doing here so early? Sam, is that you? What are you doing in town? Please don't tell me more zombies are around." Sam looked up to see Sheriff Jody Mills who was standing in front of their booth; the last part was spoken in a hushed voice, trying not to worry the ignorant bystanders.

Sam smiled, greeting her with a, "Hi Sheriff."

"Sheriff Mills, err, nice to see you." Bobby said, trying to draw her attention away from Dean who was slurping the ends of his chocolate milk; well, it was mainly whipped cream left in the glass but Dean refused to let any of it go to waste (probably enjoying the whipped cream more than the chocolate milk). Bobby's attempt at distraction was futile though, Dean was hard to overlook due to the amount of noise he was making while drinking. She turned her head to look at the freckled, blonde boy whose face was covered in syrup and whipped cream, the toothy grin was still on his face from his amusement of his sugary breakfast. Sheriff Mills looked from the boy to Bobby and Sam and then back to the boy.

"Why have you two idiots got a kid with you? And where's your brother?" she addressed Sam as she asked this, obviously more curious than Emma about the whereabouts of Dean. Sam and Bobby looked at each other, trying to telepathically communicate an excuse for Dean's absence and an explanation about the young boy. Sheriff Mills knew Bobby didn't have a nephew, or a brother at that, and Bobby suspected she was beginning to piece together the situation considering her knowledge of the supernatural.

Before they could say anything Emma approached the booth, smiling at the sheriff. "Hiya, Jody. D'you want the usual?"

Sheriff Mills nodded, "That would be great, Emma. Thanks." She said, reciprocating the friendly smile before returning to scrutinize Bobby and Sam with her eyes. Their expressions had lightened, looking relieved; luckily they had a distraction in the form of a young waitress. However what they thought was a saviour turned out to be the opposite.

"Look Emma, I drew you a picture!" Dean said, holding up a crude drawing of a black car that kind of resembled the impala. He was determined to impress the pretty waitress, even if he was only 4.

Emma smiled at the picture, replying with fake sincerity. "Wow Dean. I'm really impressed." Sam knew she was trying to be kind, but he felt like yelling at her for complicating the situation further, even if it was done unknowingly. Sheriff Mills narrowed her eyes, glaring at Bobby and Sam like this was somehow their fault.

Emma must have sensed the awkwardness of the situation since she backed away hastily from the booth mumbling an excuse about their bill. Sheriff Mills raised her eyebrows silently asking the obvious question; Bobby nodded.

"So, the kid is actually Dean?" The sheriff asked hoping to confirm her deduction. She sounded as though she didn't completely believe what was happening; Sam could easily understand why she'd struggle to. Sam barely believed this was happening and he'd experienced much stranger things happen than the sheriff would ever contemplate.

Dean's toothy grin was now directed at her, "The one an' only!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the incredibly slow update. I've been insanely busy, oops. The next update should be a lot sooner. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter though!


	4. Chapter 4

Sheriff Mills sat down next to Dean, grabbing a napkin, spitting on it before pinching Dean's cheeks and wiping his face clean of maple syrup and whipped cream. Dean struggled, attempting to escape from her grasp, "Get off me!"

"You are covered in food; did any of your breakfast even end up in your mouth?" Jody asked, scrubbing Dean's face a little more roughly.

"Uh, I don't wan' spit on me!" Sam failed at containing a laugh at Dean's utter disgust at the situation, wriggling under Jody's death grip.

When all residue of Dean's breakfast was removed, Jody turned to Bobby and Sam. "What happened? Last time I saw you guys Dean was a fully grown adult, and now he's, what? 3 years old?" She asked, trying to read their facial expressions to see if this was just an unfunny prank.

"4 actually," Bobby said matter-of-factly, producing a photograph of a young Dean, "I found this when I was looking through those boxes this morning. It's from his fourth birthday. It looks like the right age." Sam and Jody looked at the picture before Bobby folded it back up and placed it back in his pocket before Dean could climb up high enough to see what fascinated everyone.

"I wanted to see that! Am I invisible now as young?" Dean yelled, slamming his tiny fists against the table, making crayons and paper fly off of the table in every direction.

"No tantrums, young man!" Jody scolded, feeling only slightly unnerved. Dean pouted and folded his arms across his chest in response.

"There was a witch," Bobby began to explain, slightly intimidated by Jody's parental authority. "She put a curse on Dean that turned him into, well, this." He motioned at the still grumpy Dean across the table.

"How long has he been like this? Because, no offence but you two aren't exactly qualified to look after a young kid; you can barely look after yourselves." Bobby and Sam stared down at their hands, trying not to fidget; it was beginning to feel like being in the principal's office in middle school.

"It only happened last night. We were going to do research today; you know, to try to turn him back." Sam explained while Bobby pulled out his wallet as Emma approached the booth with their bill in hand. It was nearly 11:30 am; Bobby had hoped to have started his research hours ago but had been side-tracked by breakfast and now Sheriff Mills.

"And you were going to drag Dean along to the library with you? He won't stand still for two minutes, especially after the breakfast you just fed him; look, he's fidgeting now." She was right. Dean had collected the crayons and begun to launch them at Sam, clearly bored of the conversation.

Dodging the flying crayons, Sam said, "No, I was going to take him to the store. We need to pick up some supplies for Dean. He hasn't-" Sam was abruptly interrupted by Jody's laughing.

"You, shopping for kid's supplies?" she laughed again which only emphasised her point; Dean also giggled, he wasn't sure what was so funny but assumed something was due to the extent of Jody's laughter. Plus her laugh was just infectious and Dean was far too full of sugar to not join in. "I'm sorry but I just can't imagine you doing that. Are you sure you can handle it?" she asked between laughs.

Sam's face dropped, "Is it that difficult?" He was becoming rather worried.

"Oh, honey. I'd rather choose zombies over shopping with kids." Sam bit the side of his gum. He had thought shopping would have been a breeze and was glad he had received that job instead of research.

"You had a son, right?" Sam asked, trying to coax Jody into supervising their shopping trip.

"Are you trying to ask me to come with you?" Dean looked up hopefully; he obviously didn't trust Sam to handle shopping on his own either. "Look, I'd love to Sam, but I'm the Sheriff. I can't miss a day and let criminals run wild so I can help you idiots with shopping." She looked down at Dean's large, puppy dog eyes before sighing, "Fine, but no more than two hours."

Dean smiled, whereas Sam looked worried as he asked, "It's going to take 2 hours?"

Jody looked at him sympathetically, "Probably longer." She was helping Dean into his coat, putting on his hat and mittens; he didn't struggle once when she did so like he had endlessly done when Sam tried to dress him that morning.

They parted with Bobby, who headed to the library, and climbed into Jody's police car, strapping Dean securely into the back seat, Sam sitting next to him in case of an accident since they didn't have a car seat yet. It wasn't long before they arrived at the large department store; in fact it took longer to find a parking space than it did to actually get to the store. Everyone must have come to do last minute Christmas shopping, it was only the 17th but it might as well have been Christmas Eve with the amount of people who were there. Then there was the challenge of locating a working shopping cart and convincing Dean to sit in the child seat inside the cart, after a warning stare from Jody though, he willingly allowed Sam to pick him up and place him in the seat. Sam really needed to learn how to do the look Jody used which made Dean do what she asked in an instance; maybe it was a thing only parents could do.

"Alright what do you like?" Sam asked as he stopped the cart in the middle of the children clothes section.

Dean pointed at different t-shirts, most of them were plain and one with a picture of a car in the middle; Sam also picked up a couple of t-shirts with cute patterns on them, unable to resist them while Dean looked mortified to be seen with him as Sam showed Dean each of the items he'd chosen. Dean then selected three pairs of jeans, all different shades and styles, two pairs of shoes and a dark brown leather jacket Dean insisted was necessary. While Dean searched through the jackets to find his size, (which was difficult since most 4 year olds did not opt for leather jackets, he eventually settled on one that was a little big for him) Sam grabbed some underwear, socks and footie pajamas designed to look like batman's costume. Dean said the pajamas were childish but Sam noticed him smile at them when he thought Sam wasn't looking.

"Hey Sammy," Dean said pulling the mask to his face. He was trying to conceal his amusement and coughed in anticipation of the joke he was about to say. He stopped laughing long enough to sport a serious face and deep voice (or as deep as a four year old can be), "I'm batman." Sam nodded, smiling as his brother burst into a giggling fit.

"Are you boys all done here?" Jody asked while piling a range of food, drinks, toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, cutlery, medicine and more products all designed for children Dean's age into the the cart. Sam hadn't realised he would have needed all this for such a small person; he was now thoroughly relieved Jody had agreed to attend their shopping trip.

Sam nodded, "Yeah."

Dean shook his head, producing a squeak of protest, "But, we haven't looked a' the toys yet!" Dean whined, his bottom lip sticking out, puppy dog eyes wide as he squeezed Zeppelin closer to his chest.

"Fine, but you can only pick one toy. Okay?" Dean answered Sam's question with an enthusiastic nod, his toothy grin back on display. The toy aisle was filled with kids, nearly all of them older than Dean bar one who looked about the same age. Sam lifted Dean out of the cart and placed him on the floor, making Dean promise to stay in his sight. Their initial arrangement of one toy soon changed to 3 and then up to 5, Sam desperate to avoid tears and temper tantrums. Finally dragging Dean away from his paradise, the three of them headed towards the checkout. Dean had agreed to keep hold of Sam's hand if he didn't have to go back into the cart so Jody offered to steer the overflowing cart.

While waiting in the queue, Sam noticed Dean was fidgeting, hopping from foot to foot and humming slightly as he bit his lower lip. "Hey, what's up buddy?" Sam asked pulling lightly on Dean's hand to gain his attention.

Dean looked down, muttering, "Nee'ta go."

"What?" Sam didn't understand what Dean was talking about.

Emphasising more on the word 'go' Dean repeated, "I need to go."

Sam nodded, understanding what his brother was implying. "Oh, well we're about to be served. Can you hold on for, like, 5 minutes?"

Dean shook his head biting his lip harder, Sam thought he was going to end up cutting it and make it bleed.

"I can take him to the restroom while you pay. I'm pretty experienced in the whole process." Jody offered after over-hearing the conversation.

After looking at Dean's desperation again Sam nodded, "Okay, I'll meet you out front in ten minutes then."

Jody bent down, scooping Dean up into her arms. She had not walked more than 15 paces when a familiar, trench coat wearing angel appeared in front of her. "Put the child down." Castiel demanded, his voice sounding very threatening.

"Cas!" Dean exclaimed happily, his head was soon pulled into Jody's shoulder muffling his cries of excitement.

"Back off, angel." Jody spat.

"Cas, what are you doing here?" Sam asked stepping out from the queue, only to be ignored by both Castiel and Jody.

"I said, put the child down now!" Cas' face was full of fury, eyes glaring at Jody.

"And I said back off, angel." Jody hissed this time, no longer sounding like Jody. "Unless, you want me to slit the boy's throat right now? I was going to wait until later, introduce him to a few friends of mine, but I suppose now is a good time as well."

Sam abandoned the cart at the queue and was running towards Cas, Jody and Dean. Sam had to barge through a crowd of curious shoppers that had begun to gather around the drama. As he got closer Sam could hear muffled whimpers from Dean who was still hidden in Jody's shoulder. Sam desperately wanted to look his brother in the eyes and tell him he was going to be okay but his face was hidden in Jody's shoulder.

Castiel stepped towards Jody and Dean before stopping when Jody raised an arm, signalling him not to come any closer, "You couldn't imagine how happy I was when I saw the famous impala drive into town a couple of days ago. I have been in this damn body for nearly 2 months now, do you know how frustrating that's been? After the whole zombie occurrence, I was told to possess the sheriff so I've been stuck in this town waiting for the Winchesters to make a return visit to their much loved Bobby Singer." Jody gave Sam a sickening smile. "And then when I found you in that diner this morning only to discover that the great Dean Winchester, heaven's most wanted, had been transformed into a 4 year old." She released an equally sickening laugh. "You were in way over your head with it all and it was so easy to gain your trust. Lucifer will be so pleased to discover Dean's new-found form." She looked down at Dean, pulling him away from her shoulder, grabbing both of his small fists in one hand as his attempted to escape by punching hysterically, his efforts were futile considering the demon's strength. "Aww, don't cry little Deano. We're only going to kill you, probably."

Dean had tears streaming from his eyes, his breathing rapid and uneasy; his terrified gaze turned to Sam, then to Cas, silently pleading for help. The possessed Jody pulled out her gun from her belt, aiming it towards Dean's head. Gasps were released in unison from the crowd; phones were being pulled out in order to call someone, as though the authorities could help.

"If anyone tries to stop me from leaving or calls the cops, remember I have a police radio in my car so I will know, this little fella," she gave Dean a kiss on the head, Dean struggled more and attempted to escape the demon's grasp only to be squeezed more tightly. "Gets two bullets placed in his skull." More gasps were released and Dean whimpered again, tears soaked his tiny face, drowning out his miniature features.

But as the demon took a step forward, she started coughing uncontrollably, almost dropping Dean as she did so. Sam edged closer to her carefully, seeing her coughing fit as an opportunity to grab Dean; Dean had also chosen this moment to kick and punch frantically. Jody released a piercing scream before thick black smoke shot from her mouth and she fell limply to the ground, Dean still in her arms.

Dean released another cry when they hit the floor before clambering out of Jody's now loose grip and limping towards Sam, obviously he'd hurt his leg during the fall. "Sammy," Dean whimpered in a hushed voice, burying his tear covered face into Sam's neck. At that moment his older brother was barely recognisable, he was just a scared child.

"Did you do that?" Sam asked, looking up at Castiel who walked over to the checkout, picking up the paper bags full of supplies Sam had yet to pay for.

"No." he replied, walking back over to them, resting a hand on Sam's shoulder. "Only something extremely powerful is capable of that."

"Like what?" Sam asked whilst comforting Dean

"I don't know and that's what's most troubling about this situation." Suddenly they weren't in the store any more; Sam, Castiel and Dean were all standing in the centre of Bobby's living room. Onlookers who had witnessed the strange events stared on in disbelief; after blinking a couple of times the whole commotion was erased from their memories leaving them dazed and confused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm back at it. It is now my goal to upload all of this and work on new stuff as I've been out of the game far too long. I apologise to everyone who may have been waiting and hope you all enjoy the rest of the fic xxx <3 you xx


	5. Chapter 5

"What the hell was that?" Sam tightened his grip on Dean despite the familiar surroundings he could now see. Bobby was still at the library, probably would be for hours searching for the correct books to research; this meant Bobby's house was empty. Jody lay stationary on the floor a couple of feet away from them, energy drained by the demonic possession; she would wake up in a couple of hours and not remember any of this. Even though Sam knew it was a demon that was in control of her body, he didn't feel comfortable around her after hearing the words she'd just spoken.

"A demon possessed Ms Mills, evidently attempting to kill Dean; or at least spy on the two of you. Those were probably her orders." Castiel glanced over Jody's body, expressionless.

"Demons are spyin' on us now? Well that's great!" Dean said pulling away from Sam now confident that he was safe.

"Thanks for saving us like that, Cas; I should have done the tests, I should have known she was possessed. Damn it!" Sam was angry at himself for almost losing his brother to a demon.

"It's okay, Sammy. I didn't realise she was a demon either." Dean, even at this age was still trying to defend and protect Sam.

"You're four though, Dean. You can't even dress yourself; I was so worried about being a bad brother, I almost let a demon walk out of a store with you." Sam wouldn't forgive himself, even if Dean did.

"Bu' Cas saved us, so s'okay." Dean beamed at Sam, "And, fyi, I could get dressed, I just needed a little help." Sam laughed at Dean's bid at masculinity.

Castiel crouched down so he was eye level with Dean. "Are you injured at all?" Castiel asked, placing a hand on Dean's forehead after Dean had turned to face him.

"I'm fine, Cas. Jus' my ankle kinda hurts" Dean sniffed, wiping his nose on the sleeve of his coat. Castiel closed his eyes for a moment, healing Dean of his injury. "Thanks." Dean touched where his ankle had been hurting moments ago, "But wha-" Dean fell limp in Castiel's arms.

Sam rushed towards the angel who was now placing Dean onto the couch. "What's wrong with him?" Sam's voice was hurried and anxious.

"Nothing is wrong with him." Castiel said, staring down at the now motionless Dean. "He's just sleeping. I thought it would be wise to place him in this trance. The experience at the store was very traumatic for him at this age. He's emotional and unpredictable; he's vulnerable, Sam." Castiel was now staring at Sam, his eyes bearing into Sam's own.

"Do you think demons know about his 'transformation' now?" Sam asked. He was worried what would happen to his brother if their enemies were to get their hands on him; like Castiel said 'he's vulnerable'.

"I think we can assume the demon we just faced has informed their superiors of the change in Dean's physical being. There are many individuals that would wish revenge upon your brother and this would provide them with the perfect opportunity for them to deliver that vengeance" Sam nodded solemnly; he had already considered the possibilities. "I also predict that the angels have gained knowledge of the situation and are concocting a plan to take advantage of Dean's recent alteration." Castiel had walked back towards Jody, Sam following to help him move the passed-out sheriff.

"Why would the angels take advantage of this?" Sam asked while placing an arm around Jody.

"Sam, they are angels." Castiel said this as if it were a plausible excuse; and to Sam, it was.

"I mean, how would they take advantage of this? What would they do?" They had now lowered Jody's body onto an armchair.

"Although your brother still possesses his memories, and his attitude, he has the mental capacity of a child. You have probably noticed the short attention span, the excessive excitement and the general immature behaviour." Castiel explained to Sam.

"Well, that just sounds like how Dean usually is." Sam joked; Castiel simply looked at him, head tilted trying to understand the joke before giving up, deciding to continue his explanation of the situation instead.

"Dean still remembers hell and has had recurring nightmares about his time spent there, you couldn't imagine how terrifying that would be, especially now that he is so young. I'm surprised his brain hasn't given up." Castiel was voicing the very thought Sam was thinking earlier. "Dean's coping with all of this reasonably well, considering the circumstances." Castiel looked down at the sleeping figure, studying his tiny features. "He is also very persuadable at this age and I think it's exceedingly likely Zachariah would seize this as an opportunity to convince Dean to say yes to Michael, undoubtedly by using blackmail or other means they see 'fit'."

Sam nodded in agreement, that sounded like something Zachariah would do.

"So what do we do now? We can't fight anyone with Dean in this condition." Castiel nodded in agreement.

"It would be wise to find a new, safer place of residence for you and your brother since your current location will soon become highly talked about among all manner of creatures." There was no asking, no opportunity for Sam to contribute or deny Castiel's help; it was not a suggestion, it was a statement of what would happen.

"Where would we go? We haven't got many friends who would be willing to help out." Sam racked his brain for someone they could leave Dean with while he and Bobby investigated possible cures. "Who would believe this anyway, after the sheriff, or demon, I'm not sure I want to start broadcasting this to people, even to people we think we can trust." Sam could barely comprehend what was going on, how was someone else going to?

"I can think of one man who you would not need to explain this to." Sam had a sinking feeling in his stomach. "He may not be a conventional choice for a babysitter, but I am certain he is the best option from our limited selection. I also think it may be the safest place for you and Dean, at least you'll be prepared if anything does threaten to harm Dean."

Sam raised his right hand to his forehead, soothing the throbbing sensation that had been verging on painful throughout the day, only now could Sam tend to it. The last 12 hours had been the strangest and most stressful experience in his life and it was just getting worse. Cas was actually suggesting an alcoholic, dead-beat as their best option? The worst part was that Sam was starting to consider the idea as plausible.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a republication of an old story on FF net. I have edited it slightly but haven't changed much. I do not own any characters from supernatural. I hope you enjoy the story!


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